what a woman who could have joined the D.A.R. has learned about the socially-constructed, political notion of "race" by just paying attention and NOT keeping her mouth shut...

Friday, August 10, 2018

Dear Warden

This has been a complicated week. I somehow wound up at the center of just the kind of situation I long ago learned to avoid like the plague. Nevertheless, as is not always but sometimes the case, I think it has all turned out (so far) fairly well. The end result (I hope against hope -- I have other urgent business to attend to) is the following letter, which I just drafted to send to a warden I spoke with at some length this afternoon. I don't typically talk a great deal to wardens at all, but on occasion have felt it necessary and have always used the opportunity to accomplish as much as possible, under the circumstances. One never knows when a little dropped knowledge can ultimately bear fruit.

I have decided to publish the letter for several reasons, which I am not going to discuss, and I am publishing very nearly all of it, except for details that would specifically identify any of those involved. So I do not call names, but I think the points I made during my conversation and then repeated in my letter were important and general enough to apply to what is building in prisons from coast to coast in the United States. Please feel free to share it as appropriate.

Dear
Warden,

I
appreciated the opportunity to speak with you this afternoon on the phone about
the concerns your administration was experiencing over an event you had seen
advertised to occur at your institution on August 18th. You made it clear that you, as
an administrator with 44 years continuous experience in the Department
of Corrections have no particular problem with a peaceful demonstration related
to reducing the number of men and women incarcerated in our state. Indeed, you
made the point that our Governor has worked ever since he was
elected to effect wide-ranging changes in this direction with your support.

I
made no attempt to present myself as a decision-maker in the movement that had called for the event on the 18th,
especially since I’ve only been peripherally involved with this group for
several weeks. I told you I tried to get someone among the group’s leaders to
call you but was unable to arrange that. Consequently, in the firm belief that
there had not been time to organize the event effectively and deeply concerned
about the negative effects this might have on the prisoners and staff inside your institution without being able to have an overall positive effect in terms of reaching its goals,
I explained to the people outside that I had been specifically directed by incarcerated leaders to call for the cancellation of this particular event at this particular time. And as I told
you, it appears that they have agreed.

You
and I discussed the idea that peaceable demonstrations representing large
numbers of individuals and groups, including the loved ones of incarcerated men
and women in our state, at the capital building or in other highly
visible places in support of changing various current situations having to do
with criminal justice and corrections here would gather a larger groundswell of interest and attention – and more effectual results – than
a smaller demonstration in the countryside nearer the prison itself.

When
you told me that the main concern about the 18th was whether or not
its intention was to call for a mass work stoppage inside the penitentiary, I couldn’t
speak directly to that. I do know, however, that the group’s main
points as outlined in their documents online express wanting to effect change
related to how men and women wind up going to prison in the first place, examining the role that
poverty and poor public schools plays in increasing incarceration rates, researching
how and why the womb-to-prison pipeline affects the Black community disproportionately,
and calling for the provision of medical, vocational, mental health, and other services
all humans need in order to reach their full potentials.

I
explained that as far as I can tell, the push nationally to focus on incarcerated
workers is not primarily a criticism of penitentiaries themselves as much as it
is an attempt to address a situation that affects all American workers. When highly
profitable corporations are allowed to close down factories on the outside and
move them inside prisons where incarcerated workers are then made to do the same work for
a fraction of the cost, all workers suffer. Workers on the outside cannot
compete with this rate of pay and often can’t find a job at all in a country
where millions of jobs are now being performed by incarcerated men and women
for a dollar per hour or less.

Because
of this process, families outside lose much-needed income and can’t pay their
bills which increases their sense of helplessness and desperation, raising the
likelihood of their having to turn to alternate, less legal, options. When members of those families then wind up as incarcerated workers, it makes it look as
if the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is being used specifically
to maintain a system of slavery in America. Corporations already making
billions make even more and incarcerated workers are made to feel like robots.

This
is an issue that will have to be addressed – sooner or later – not only by you
at your institution but across the United States because it is affecting all
of us. It is not just about the prisons. It is about families and decency and
the future well-being of our country. Repealing the 13th Amendment
and expecting corporations to pay incarcerated workers a living wage would
completely sidestep the otherwise necessary discomfort of forcing human beings
to demand their basic human rights when the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights already guarantees them.

I
told you earlier this afternoon that I hope we can maintain a cordial
relationship in the future. I am enclosing my card should you want to get in
touch with me. And I will certainly take you up on your offer to call with my
concerns as they arise.

Thank
you for assuring me that you do not intend to close down visiting privileges on
August 18th. I’m sure those who are incarcerated at your institution and their loved ones, the
staff you supervise, and all of us who care, will be glad to hear this.

Sincerely,

Changeseeker___________________________________________________________NOTE: The graphic above is by incarcerated artist and social justice warrior Kevin "Rashid" Johnson. See more of his art work here.

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ABOUT ME

I'm a writer, speaker, and sociologist who's made a life's work out of explaining exactly what I see happening in the world. Some people like it. Some people don't. But the ball is still the ball, no matter what kind of spin is put on it.